20 rescued from ice

PORT CLINTON >> Twenty people were rescued from an ice floe in Lake Erie, the Coast Guard said Monday.

The Coast Guard’s Ninth District Great Lakes station said it received a report about 10:20 a.m. that the people were stuck on a mile-long floe about a halfmile off Catawba Island State Park near Port Clinton in Ohio.

A Coast Guard helicopter was sent from Air Station Detroit and two airboats headed to the scene from Station Marblehead, said Petty Officer Jessica Fontenette. Rescuers from the Put-In-Bay fire department on South Bass Island and the Ottawa County sheriff’s office also assisted.

The Coast Guard was able to rescue nine people; four others were rescued by the other agencies; and seven were able to get to shore themselves on an airboat, she said.

U.S. COAST GUARD VIA AP In this image taken from video provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit and Station Marblehead respond to a report of ice fishermen stranded on an ice floe near Catawba Island on Lake Erie Jan. 22. Twenty people were rescued from an ice floe in Lake Erie, the Coast Guard said Monday.